Attention weary commuters on Highway 101: Help is on the way, from Gilroy to Sunnyvale to SFO and through Petaluma.
The California Transportation Commission has approved $351 million to add express lanes on 101 from Highway 237 to Interstate 380, rebuild the 101-237 interchange at Mathilda Avenue, begin plans for new ramps at 101-25 south of Gilroy, widen the Marin-Sonoma Narrows bottleneck and fund a pilot express bus line on 101 in San Mateo County.
The 101 express lane work is expected to be under design this summer. The 64 miles of toll/carpool lanes could open in the summer of 2021.
“ This will help us change it from the 101 parking lot back to a highway,” said Carl Guardino, a commission board member and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, an influential trade association representing hundreds of companies. “The Marin-Sonoma Narrows funding will finally give relief to Highway 101 travelers north of San Francisco, easing the hour glass that takes at least an hour to navigate under current conditions.”
In the East Bay, the notorious I-680/Highway 4 interchange in Contra Costa County could be under construction in September with an opening in late 2021. Crews will build a three-level interchange with two-lane ramps and widen Highway 4 from four to six lanes.
And millions are earmarked for road changes feeding into the Port of Oakland.
The commission approved $2.7 billion for 64 projects across California. More than $660 million is bound for the Bay Area. About 25 percent will come from the new state gas tax, i f it is not repealed in November, and other fees approved last year.
The gas tax and other new fees are expected to bring in $52 billion over the next decade. Without those funds, transportation officials say, many improvements would remain in limbo for years.
“While our local transportation sales tax measures got these projects underway,” said Art Dao, the executive director of the Alameda County Transportation Commission, “we wouldn’t be able to move forward into construction on these priority projects without the statewide gas tax.”
The “Mathilda Monster” in Sunnyvale — a dubious nickname for the 101-237 interchange for more than three decades, where several ramps and numerous traffic signals cause gridlock and constant lane changing in a few hundred feet — may finally be tamed. Construction could begin by the end of the year and finish by 2021.
Other Bay Area and Northern California projects getting state approval include:

International Parkway improvements for interchanges at I-580 and I-205 in San Joaquin County ($24.7 million).
Caltrain, $164 million to speed up fully electrifying the fleet and to provide on-board Wi-Fi.
Alameda County Transportation Commission, $175 million that includes a project to carry 7th Street over railroad tracks serving the Port of Oakland.
680-Highway 12 interchange in Solano County, $53 million.
AC Transit, $15 million to buy hybrid buses.
Imjin Parkway on the Monterey Peninsula, $19 million to be widened to 4 lanes.

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